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An Isolated Holiday Bach in New Zealand’s South Island

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A typical Kiwi bach or holiday house is sited at the Bay of Many Coves overlooking a glorious view in New Zealand’s Marlborough Sounds.

The clients had a very old wooden cottage on the site that had to be demolished first.

The site was very isolated. The only practical way to reach it was actually by boat, barge or by helicopter, which made construction challenging.

A single story steel and timber framed structure with skillion roofs was the most effective solution.

The clients brief was relatively simple: open plan kitchen, dining, living area with fireplace (wood burner), three double bedrooms, all with a good orientation and view, separate studio – office area, laundry-changing room after diving with exterior shower, main complete bathroom and a separate toilet.

In order to better understand the family’s needs and find the special views and most-loved vistas, before demolition, the design team spent a weekend in the old cottage with the family.

So they were talking, walking, eating, drinking, fishing, and photographing, sketching and measuring, refining the brief.

The experience helped them visualize and experience the site’s constraints including access, orientation, context, services, topography and vegetation and obstructions.

By contrast with the old wooden cottage, the use of plenty of glass is prescribed, double-paned to moderate the interior climate, while offering views and a daily wash of sunshine through every part of the house.

The open plan living room becomes the heart of the home set in the lush tropical surroundings.

Studio MWA also rotated the new building to capture a better orientation and view, and pushed the new building back into the hill, to create a retaining wall to shore up any possible erosion in the future.